One of my absolute favorite chords is the Bm7 guitar chord. As I've mentioned in previous lessons, my hand automatically gravitates towards this or Cm7 anytime I pick up a guitar.
It's also a very convenient barre chord to learn. It uses an open Am7 shape. Once you have this chord shape down, you can suddenly play a wide range of other chords as you move up and down the neck.
Today we will focus on the various ways you can play Bm7, as well as the theory behind it and a couple of fun companion chords.
Let's get to the lesson, shall we?
How To Play The Bm7 Chord
This is the first version of the chord I learned how to play. It uses the familiar Am7 shape mentioned above. Instead of playing it open, you barre on the 2nd fret.
- index finger (1) across the bottom 5 strings in a barre shape on the 2nd fret
- middle finger (2) on the D note of the B string on the 3rd fret
- ring finger (3) on the F# note on the D string at the 4th fret
- mute the low E string
Variations Of The Chord
There are other ways of playing Bm7. Let's go over a few of these alternate versions.
Another variation is on the 2nd fret:
- middle finger (2) on the B note of the A string at the 2nd fret
- play the D string open
- ring finger (3) on the A note on the G string at the 2nd fret
- pinky finger (4) on the D note on the B string at the 3rd fret
This version of the chord can feel a bit awkward at first. You will have a big stretch between your index finger and middle finger. Be sure to practice this one and you will soon become comfortable with the distance.
- index finger (1) fretting the A note on the high e string at the 5th fret
- middle finger (2) fretting the B note on the low E string at the 7th fret
- ring finger (3) fretting the D note on the G string at the 7th fret
- pinky finger (4) fretting the F# note on the B string at the 7th fret
Bm7 can also be played at various points along the guitar neck using barre chords. Here is an example:
If you remember this chord shape from the Em7 lesson you will have no trouble with this at all.
- index finger (1) barred across the six strings on the 7th fret
- ring finger (3) on the F# note on the A string at the 9th fret
The Theory Behind It
To build a minor chord, it's best to first know how a major chord is built. To do that you just need to take that chords major scale and use the I, III, and V notes. Together they form what is called a major triad.
To build a B major chord you would use:
- B (I)
- D# (III)
- F (V)
The B major scale looks like this:
The minor chord uses a similar formula. You will still use the I, III, and V notes however the III will be a flat 3rd or bIII. All that means is you lower the III note by a half step.
Building a Bm chord using this formula would look like this:
- B (I)
- D (bIII)
- F# (V)
Now we know how to make major and minor chords. How do you make a 7th chord? To make a major 7th you just add a VII note. So Bmaj7 would look like:
- B (I)
- D# (III)
- F# (V)
- A# (VII)
For a minor 7th chord, you take the minor triad and instead of a VII note you add a bVIII, or flat 7th (just like we flattened the II). This formula looks like:
- B (I)
- D (bIII)
- F# (V)
- A (bVII)
Complementary Chords
It's true you can write a song around a single chord, but it's really difficult to make that sound interesting. To really get the most out of your playing, you will want to play some chords with the Bm7.
To build a good chord progression we will use the B minor chord scale. The formula for a minor chord scale is:
- i
- ii°
- III
- iv
- v
- VI
- VII
Note: When the scale degrees are in lower case that means the chord is in minor. When you see the degree symbol °, that means the chord is diminished.
The chords available in a B minor chord scale are:
- Bm (i)
- C#dim (ii°)
- D (III)
- Em (iv)
- F#m (v)
- G (VI)
- A (VII)
To make a chord progression you just pull chords from this selection. We went with i7 - III - iv7 - VI - VII or Bm7 - D - Em7 - G - A.
This is how you play that progression:
A Couple Bm7 Chord Variations
Here are just a few more ways to play a Bm7 chord.
This one is very similar to the first variation we covered. The main difference is you will mute the D string instead of playing it open.
- index finger (1) fretting the B note on the A string at the 2nd fret
- middle finger (2) fretting the A note on the G string at the 2nd fret
- ring finger (3) fretting the D note on the B string at the 3rd fret
- mute the low E, D, and high e strings
This final Bm7 is on the 7th fret and uses an A chord shape with a B bass note on the low E string.
To play this last version is with your:
- middle finger (2) fretting the B note on the low E string at the 7th fret
- ring finger (3) barring the A, D, & F# notes on the D, G, and B strings of the 7th fret
- mute the A string with your middle finger (2) and the high e string with your ring finger (3)
Songs That Have The Bm7 Chord
As you can see, the Bm7 chord can sound great in a wide variety of songs across many different genres.
- All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor
- Bad Day by Daniel Powter
- Brian Wilson by Barenaked Ladies
- Killing Me Softly by Fugees
- More Than Words by Extreme
- Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae
- Ridin' Dirty by Chamilionaire
- The Scientist by Coldplay
- You've Got A Friend by James Taylor
Final Word
As you can see from the list above, the Bm7 guitar chord is able to fit nicely within just about any genre or style of music. It automatically brings a certain mood and feel to any song you're playing or writing.
Now that this is part of your own personal chord library, let's see what you can come up with!
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